If you believe, like I do, that the right surroundings can boost your mood, energise your mind and soothe your soul, then where you go for rest, recuperation and rejuvenation needs to look and — crucially — feel the part. Happily, as wellness evolves from lifestyle category to cultural ethos, designers and architects are getting more deeply involved in wellbeing-led spaces than ever before.
At the leading edge of this movement is hospitality, where the spa as minimal, dimly-lit basement no longer cuts it. Instead, expect an entire wellness floor with the best views in the building. Where there was once a dusty plastic orchid, now there are mossy walls, fresh air, circadian lighting and the full biophilic works. Taking cues from neuroscience, spirituality and ancient material knowledge, the healing hotel is a new typology in which wellbeing is the central narrative.
What makes a space feel truly restorative? From countryside sanctuaries to considered city hideaways, these five UK-based wellness destinations offer that deep-down, cellular kind of calm that makes you exhale on entering and stays with you long after you leave. It’s ‘neuroaesthetic therapy’, and for those seeking interiors inspiration, it can be a blueprint for how interior design can actively support healing, rest, and renewal.
1. Surenne, The Emory, London
Five storeys beneath Knightsbridge, Surenne is the wellness brand developed by Maybourne and designed by Rémi Tessier with three serene floors of soft travertine, watery blues and light-filled ritual. The latest outpost, designed by Maybourne’s Michelle Wu, is perched above the sea at Roquebrune-Cap-Martin and brings together longevity experts, skincare specialists and movement therapists in a space inspired by the coastline and the ancient curative power of water.
2. Eynsham Baths, Estelle Manor, Oxfordshire
We didn’t know we needed a Roman-inspired bathhouse reborn for today, but now it exists we do know what we’ve been missing all this time. Carved stone columns, skylit pools and hay-scented saunas create a 3,000 m² thermal journey designed for both solitude and connection. Decadence defined.
3. The Bothy by Wildsmith, Heckfield Place, Hampshire
Nestled deep in the walled gardens of the stunning Heckfield Place, this subterranean oasis opens into an expansive 1,579 m² space, with glass walls overlooking ancient meadows. Fossilised limestone floors, antique bricks and nearly 30,000 individually hand-laid terracotta tiles create a genuinely grounded, sensory sanctuary. Treatments are aligned with circadian rhythms — even the soundscape is recorded birdsong from the estate.
4. ARC Club, Canary Wharf, London
Not your typical spa. ARC Community is London’s first communal contrast-therapy club: a 65-person sauna, amphitheatre-style terraces, and communal ice baths. Designed by Cake Architecture, it’s wellness as social ritual. Without a single slick, antiseptic surface in sight the design evokes warmth and togetherness.
5. The HVN, Knightsbridge, London
A forest-bathing cocoon in the city. Curved partitions, suspended foliage, limewashed walls and sculptural seating blur biophilic design with urban sophistication. Warm recessed alcoves, lots of moss and sand-blush walls create an earthy, cave-like cocoon inspired by natural landscapes and lush woodlands. Everything — down to the acoustics — is designed to soothe its guests into stillness.
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